How to train a puppy without a crate if you don’t like the idea of making your beloved pet “traps” in the “cage”? Certainly, potty training will have to be your very first task as you would not want her to do her business everywhere in your home.
It is no different than a two year old child saying she has to go to the bathroom. You have to have a good eye on your puppy, or you are setting yourself up for a mess. You cannot leave her in the house with no supervision.
If you have to be gone for a while, you will have to confine her in one place. Bathroom will be a good choice.
Before your puppy is being potty trained, there is unavoidably going to be accidents in your home. If you see her getting ready to “go” for her business, rush over to interrupt the behavior and then give her the verbal and physical cue of where she should go potty.
If you don’t catch your puppy in the act, just clean up the mess and move on. The most important thing to remember is not to let your puppy see you clean up, as he may identify with what you’re doing and repeat the same behavior.
If you catch her in the middle of having an accident, grab her and calmly take her outside. If you yell at her, this will create negative impact on her, encouraging scared or submissive behavior that can be the start of a whole set of difficult and frustrating issues later on.
When you go outside, bring her to the designated potty spot. You can add a cue word for her to go potty when you get her outside, such as “go potty” or “go poop”. When she goes, you say: “Good Girl” and pet her.
You want to be sure to reward her for peeing in the appropriate spot. You want to show her that peeing in that area is good.
If you see her sniffing the floor or circling around, pick her up and bring her to the door; if she manages to go outside for potty, praise her for being a good dog!
You should never punish your puppy for soiling in the house. Unlike humans, dogs don’t have a mental grasp of what they did or what they had done in the past. If you scold her for any accident (not at the time of act), she will not be able to associate the “scolding” with what she had done wrong. She will be wary of you and might turn rebellious.
Consider this from a puppy’s perspective. Puppies have no idea what is going on. They are just kids. They are going to find a great place to pee and poop, and it is very likely going to be on your floor. They cannot control their bladder for very long as well.
As a general rule, a puppy can hold on for about 1 hour for every month they are old. If you take your puppy out every 1 to 2 hours, then he will get used to going outside, and you would have less accidents.
If you catches her in the act (accident), scold her with a stern “No” will be sufficient. Do not ever apply any physical punishment on her. She will be able to connect the scolding to whatever she is doing at the moment and will avoid doing that action again.
For example, if you catch her in the middle of relieving, scolding her will mean that she’ll think twice before relieving herself in front of you.
You must create a routine and stick to it. Let your puppy out at the same time every day so that she gets used to the routine. At night, put her in a designated spot with puppy pad. The next morning, take her out to the same spot to eliminate.
All that being said, keeping a regular feeding schedule is also important. Puppies’ large food appetites create the need to pee more often. A good schedule would be to feed her twice a day, and let her out about the same time after eating.
Here are some things that you can do to prevent accidents in the house.
- Puppies have very small bladders and cannot hold them for very long, so take her out about every two hours.
- Never give her food and water two hours before bedtime.
- If you see her sniffing and circling, take her outside immediately.
- Be patient, reward her for going in the right spot.
Be realistic in the early stages of potty training. Your puppy is not going to learn to go outdoors on the first day. You have to show her what is expected from her on a daily basis.
Did you also find your puppy starts chewing thing? From the time she is getting her first tooth, she’ll be chewing on things to relieve the pain and discomfort. So make sure you have enough chew toys available for her to prevent her for destroying your furniture.
You can also entertained her with toys that allow you to insert doggy treats. This will keep her attentive! Most dog owners find that toy that contains some sort of treat is a good choice for their puppies as it will keep their mind occupied.
Establish yourself as the alpha dog or leader of the pack from the very beginning of the training is important. This will make your puppy looks upon you as her leader and obey your instructions.
Puppy training is not as complicated as what you might think, but it sure needs some effort and patience. You can get a handle on your puppy’s chewing and elimination problems, and perhaps other issues, by being more aware of your puppy’s every action.